


this time is real, no one can deny

by virgo (gradually)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Background Relationships, Everyone Is Gay, Nonbinary Character, Other, Trans Character, background tony, background tony/pepper because im what? a sucker for it, bruce is nonbinary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-16 19:07:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14817159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gradually/pseuds/virgo
Summary: Bruce drinks what can be argued is too much coffee. Thor is their favorite barista.[title from BoA'sgarden in the air]





	this time is real, no one can deny

**Author's Note:**

> hello! this is my first mcu fic in a while - i wrote a lot for a1... oh the nostalgia. :,,> anyway im happy to be Online! and Writing! in this fic bruce is nonbinary and uses they/them ; thor is trans and uses he/him. (thus the relationship tag is under "other").   
> the main cast mentioned is all college-aged and bruce + tony + their pals all rent a house together.   
> thank you to my friends / betas [snivellus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/queervulcan/pseuds/snivellus/works) and [atavanhalen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/atavanhalen) https://archiveofourown.org/users/atavanhalen !! :>   
> **content warning: eating disorder mentioned**  
>  [the avocado bit was a recommendation by a friend. U know who you are and also, i love u. mmmmm coffy.]

Bruce hates September. They’ve always hated it, but every time September rolls around once again Bruce is acutely reminded of all the reasons it is bad. For one, the humidity is doing  _ something  _ to their hair, with pieces of it stuck to their forehead and other sections sticking out and refusing to be pinned down. Second, Tony is dragging them across campus trying to find a coffee shop that isn’t packed because of first-years feeling the inherent needs to travel in loud groups with what Tony says, is “a fucking absolute disrespect for any human decency or their TAs”. Bruce thinks the second half is because Tony  _ is  _ a TA, but keeps it to themselves. 

“I just want some fucking coffee,” Tony grumbles, mainly to himself, as he grabs onto their wrist and pulls them along.

“‘M sorry, hun,” is Bruce’s only reply, seeing as they are deeply immersed in the fact they just received no more than  _ six  _ emails and it was the first day of classes. Their train of thought is only interrupted when Tony stops walking and Bruce bumps into their back with a muffled  _ ope _ . They’re already next in line in the thankfully much quieter and less occupied café, tucked right between two restaurants. By the time Bruce wipes off their glasses, Tony is almost done with his order, and it is an understatement to say Bruce panics.

The barista is almost threateningly handsome. Long blonde hair up in a ponytail, stray strands tucked behind his ear, with both a dazzlingly warm and genuine smile. 

“And what could I get for you?” they ask, seemingly the face of patience. Bruce glanced to see the nametag read  _ Thor  _ in loopy, blue lettering. 

“A- uh- Cappuccino. Medium, please.” Bruce didn’t even  _ like  _ cappuccinos that much, but seeing as it was the first thing that flew out of their mouth, they went with it. They cradled their drink with care after another barista had called out the order and followed Tony wordlessly to class, biting on their bottom lip their entire time.

“The barista was cute,” Bruce mumbles in passing, hoping Tony doesn’t pick up on it but of course Tony does. He turns with dramatic flair, almost spilling part of his drink - a caramel latte with extra drizzle, 4 shots, and whipped cream, complicated and overly sweet - to smile at Bruce.

“Who, Thor? We had a class together last semester on uh... it was one of my generals, uh... British literature, I think it was. He saved my ass during the final.” Bruce nods, listening to Tony ramble about their haphazard production of Hamlet in which Thor had been cast as Ophelia because he had the longest hair out of everyone in the group. Bruce wondered if they had even put flowers in Thor’s hair.

~

Bruce ended up frequenting the coffeeshop after that. It was quiet and homey and never too loud, even though Bruce wore their noise-cancelling headphones almost always anyway. Tony would stop by between classes and bring Bruce their lunch if they had forgotten, which was almost always. Tony would scroll through twitter and made sure Bruce actually ate their lunch as opposed to smash it into tiny bits and pieces and push it across the plate. Once in a while he would even bring Pepper along, trying to impress his partner with his coffee knowledge that Bruce knew was marginal at best. It was still endearing and still very Tony. 

The baristas got to know Bruce’s schedule, knew what they liked to order, and occasionally gave them samples or free drinks when the student looked especially rushed or run-down. A gnawing thought in the back of Bruce’s head also mentioned it was because one of the baristas was especially cute and had gotten to know Bruce’s taste in drinks and often made them drinks without prompting.

During Thor’s lunch breaks when Bruce was around, the two would sit at a table in the back and work on homework together. At first it was in relative silence, as Thor had taken the seat because the rest of the cafe was overwhelmingly full. As days went by and leaves changed hue, they ended up talking. A lot. 

Thor learned that Bruce was not only a double major - in biology and geology, no less - but also was in like four student groups and still found the time to tutor other students. The more Bruce talked, the more Thor was worried about how they spread themselves so thin, but didn’t know if such serious emotions and concerns were appropriate for a friend from work. Sometimes Bruce would get so excited about some distant mathematical concept Thor wouldn’t even  _ try  _ to grasp and just stared at them, seeing how genuinely passionate they were about science and the environment. On good days, Bruce would wear their hair in a high bun, but on bad days they would simply shove it all into a cap or beanie that looked like it belonged to Tony rather than Bruce. Their favorite drink was a mocha macchiato with caramel drizzle. 

Bruce got to learn about Thor’s siblings, Loki and Hela, and both was sad and happy they didn’t have any siblings themselves. Hela was away, touring all of Europe and sending occasional postcards, whereas Loki was always at the cafe, swiping the pastries left at the end of the day and working on his embroidery in the corner. Thor was usually Loki’s ride home, and Thor liked closing the cafe, so Loki took night classes to avoid hours upon hours of boredom. Bruce always asked what Thor’s favorite drink was, but he could never decide. 

After a particularly heartfelt conversation about why Thor decided to change his major from business (which his father wanted him to study) to gender and sexuality studies, which in turn, became Thor’s coming out story, he had looked over to see that Bruce was still listening intently, biting at their nails; when Thor had tried to make eye contact Bruce looked away quickly, their slight blush only becoming more apparent. 

“So,” Thor began, “Sorry to talk for so long. Would you care to go study somewhere else? I’m sure Val can handle the cafe.” Thor turned to the counter. 

Bruce nodded, still looking down. “I didn’t bring lunch anyway, so that would be neat.” At this Thor could only nod, reaching over the table to grab Bruce’s hand. 

“I hope you’re doing alright.”

When Bruce didn’t respond, he turned to Val, who was wiping of the espresso machines after a particularly large group of loud high schoolers on tour had all asked for ridiculously sugary drinks. “Val, can you hold down the fort?”

Val laughed. “Yes, go do gay shit. I got this.” 

Thor had wanted to take Bruce out for what felt to his melodramatic self - the melodrama he shared with Hela and Loki, of course - for  _ eons _ . Sure, he wanted to take Bruce out on what one would consider a  _ proper date _ , but also he just wanted to go to lunch and spend more time with Bruce, as sappy as that sounded. 

Bruce laughed to themselves, hiding it behind their hand. They could only silently admire Val’s energy and her ability to be blunt without the fear that she was getting on someone’s nerves. Bruce saw a lot of it in Tony, but something about Val felt warm too, like an older sister, or an old friend they may have known and were slowly getting to learn about again. 

The walk to lunch is uneventful. Bruce had forgotten their lunch today, as usual, and Thor was glad that the other student would actually be eating something besides a croissant or whatever else the café staff would sneakily let them have. Thor tries not to think too hard about how the sun makes Bruce’s hair look even more beautiful soft and vibrant and distracts himself by rambling on about an aimless mishap in one of his lectures. 

To Thor’s sadness, Bruce  _ still  _ skips out on lunch and instead promises Thor they’ll pick out a table for them both while he orders. When Thor returns with a tray piled high with mac and cheese and veggie burgers, Bruce is already deep in their homework again, taking a sip from their water bottle. 

Thor hands one of the veggie burgers to Bruce before they can say anything.

“How much was this? You don’t have to worry about me.” 

“It’s on me. Just eat.” 

Bruce nods and does just that, their eyebrows only slightly rising when Thor pulls an avocado out of their backpack to add to their mac and cheese. _ Stranger things have happened.  _

“For the record,” Thor says as he’s finishing up lunch, “It’s... it’s not that I worry about you as, as like, a bad worry. I worry ‘cause I care... for you. And about you. So don’t worry if I worry.” Thor looks over, biting his lip and trying to measure Bruce’s reaction. “A-Anyway. I gotta head to class. Gotta, uh, watch a movie. I’ll textyoubye!”

Bruce sits there until they can see Thor leaves and lets out a breath they didn’t even know they were holding. Thor  _ cared _ , and it both scared and made Bruce happy and fuzzy and warm. They knew Tony would ask of all the minuscule details of their lunch - lunch  _ date _ ? - but for now, they couldn’t be bothered with confronting that and walked to the bus stop in a dreamy haze. 

~

It was a warmer-than-usual November evening when Bruce came in, almost like clockwork, followed by what Thor could only guess were some of their friends. Tony, always the procrastinator, spent an entire ten minutes thinking about what to order before waiting another ten minutes checking his email before actually doing homework like he had intended to do. He, Bruce, Clint, and Natasha took up a table in the corner, Clint and Natasha being almost heart-meltingly affectionate while Tony moped and Bruce sat there like an anxious wreck. 

Bruce was halfway through typing their lab report when they felt a tap on their shoulder, followed by a coffee being pushed in their face. It was Thor, beaming like always, only looking a bit more tired than usual.

“I have to get back to work, but I thought you could use a pick-me-up. See you at closing, Bruce,” Thor said, giving no time for Bruce to reply before leaving again. In the background, they could hear Val’s explosive laughter, and Bruce silently took the drink trying to ignore the confused glances the rest of the table tried to aim at him. 

“What are you and tall blonde and handsome gonna do at closing, Brucie?” Tony teased, which made Bruce only blush harder than they already were.

“Nothing. Probably just do homework,” Bruce replied, trying to provide the illusion of nonchalance. They pulled their phone out from under the table and quickly sent Tony a text while he was still avoiding his homework.

 

7:42pm

Wait do you think he likes me OTL

 

7:42pm

Yes????????????? Are you NOT dating??????

 

7:43

No i thought he didnt like me like that !!!!!1

 

7:44

Bruce.............. Omg .. what will u lose if u dont ask him out. Ok sure itll be awkward but you gotta try! !!! and then tell me all the details >:P

 

With that, Tony puts their phone away and finally dedicates himself to actually grading all these worksheets like he had intended to do over half an hour ago. Bruce sits there, trying to not get caught staring at Thor, and eventually does start their homework. For some reason, their chest feels warmer. 

~

Bruce gripped tighter to their half-empty coffee cup as the rain outside turned to sleet. They didn’t think it would get this bad, and here they were, stuck in the coffee shop for what had to be at least another half hour, on a Monday night, with no one else in the shop but Thor. Loki, who was much smarter than Bruce in this case, had left half an hour ago with the leftover danishes that didn’t sell that day. Bruce wondered if hir entire house was just danishes at this point, but didn’t ask. Every time they tried to open their mouth and Thor was in the vicinity, it would just be a sad jumble of words. Tony had noticed this during one of the many late nights he had stayed to study with Bruce and their friends, one eyebrow slowly rising higher than the other. Bruce had reached over the table, hands waving, trying to get Tony to shift their facial expression before anyone else at the table had looked up and processed what had transpired - which was Bruce saying  _ thanks, see you later  _ when Thor had said  _ here enjoy this, extra whip just for you  _ and passed him what had to be a very fancy mocha. Tony lowered his eyebrow and smiled, but it wasn’t even a smirk, just a big, genuine smile. It had reassured Bruce in a way only Tony could, so in tune to Bruce’s tics and triggers and the way they would pull at the hair at the back of their neck whenever they got remotely anxious. 

Thor clears his throat, and it brings Bruce out of his train of thought.

“Just us tonight, huh? I guess everyone read the forecast.”

Bruce nodded, trying to think of something witty to say and coming up blank. “Y-yeah. I’ll probably just get a taxi home, so you can close up before it gets bad-”

“I can drive us home. Err, you home. I can drive you home.”

If Bruce wasn’t blushing before that, they were now. A very handsome barista was offering to drive them home. A very handsome barista that also stuttered sometimes, and made Bruce fancy drinks whenever he studied with his friends at a weird, extravagant attempt at flirting. Thor, who had opened up to Bruce in equal parts vulnerable and confident and then bought him lunch and sometimes, when he was sleepy or too lost in thought, called Bruce  _ honey _ .

“It’s okay, d-don’t worry about it. I don’t live that far.” Bruce had began packing up their stuff, looking over all the assignments they had left and checking their planner for all the things they had to catch up on. They had so fucking much to do, and it was raining out, and they had to walk home now, and today was Natasha’s laundry day, so they’d have to pull an all nighter - 

Thor had slowly walked closer as Bruce tried to smash all their things in their backpack, moving from wiping down a table across the café to pulling up a chair and sitting directly across from Bruce.

“Is everything alright?” Thor didn’t really know what exactly Bruce was thinking about, couldn’t pinpoint how to soothe them. All he knew was that Bruce’s hands were shaking, and - when was the last time they had eaten?   
  
Bruce hadn’t responded, taking their hat off and running their hands through their hair, tugging at the ends of it in a nervous tic Thor knew well by now. 

“Bruce, when was the last time you ate?” 

That question seemed to be enough to get Bruce to face Thor, and they bit their bottom lip trying to remember. “Noon. I had a bagel.” 

“Okay, well,” Thor began, “you should eat before you leave. Do you want a muffin?”

“A muffin is good,” Bruce responded, almost at a whisper. “Yeah. But t-then I’ll leave and get out of your hair, promise.” 

“I wouldn’t mind if you were in my hair. In fact, I might even prefer it,” he smiled, leaving Bruce dumbfounded and blushing violently as Thor went to grab them the last two muffins in the case and - water, definitely water. Bruce was pulling their hair again, and Thor gently took their wrist and brought it back down to the table.  _ It was so that they could grab the muffin, of course _ , he told himself. But Bruce didn’t move their hand back to take it - they just grabbed the muffin with their left hand, albeit awkwardly. 

“Thanks for feeding me,” they smiled, taking another large bite. “You’ve probably noticed I forget to eat.”

“It happens to the best of us,” Thor responded, loosening his grip on their wrist. Bruce shifted to hold Thor’s hand instead, holding it gently, trying to read Thor’s face. He only smiled and kept eating, rubbing circles on the back of Bruce’s hand with his thumb. They sat like that for a while, even after their makeshift dinner was over. Bruce, for once, felt overwhelmingly calm. They wondered if this is how neurotypical people felt at all times. Thor saw their expression soften, and yawned, smiling when he realized it was because Bruce had yawned first. 

“Bruce,” Thor began, clearing his throat. “You should get some rest.” 

Bruce nodded, yawning again, and finally put their hat back on, trying not to look at the clock. “I think it’s okay to walk now -”

“-Let me give you a ride home. I insist.”

“So now I owe you for like, six mochas, lunch,  _ and _ gas?”

Thor laughed. “Those can all easily be repaid.” The sentiment of how, exactly, made Bruce believe in butterflies in the stomach.

~

They fell back into comfortable silence again on the ride home, the sound of the rain hitting the windshield and Bruce’s phone barking out directions occasionally being the only sounds in the car. At stoplights, Thor would lean over to see how Bruce was doing, and at one point they had fallen asleep but hadn’t had the guts to wake them. Thor just wanted to hold them and do all their homework for them and let them finally fucking rest. 

As he rounded the corner on what appeared to be a pretty fancy house, Thor realized he had to wake Bruce up anyway. Thor grabbed their hand and squeezed, hoping that would be enough, and then grabbed their shoulder. He felt like an absolute fool, sitting there in a parked car trying to wake up their sleeping crush, rain still hitting the windshield. After what felt like eternity Bruce stirred awake, backing up nervously but then slowly relaxing when they realized what was happening.

“Sorry I fell asleep,” Bruce yawned, rubbing their eyes from under their glasses. “I’ll uh - yeah. Thank you again.”

Thor grabbed Bruce’s wrist before they could reach for the door, and they turned to look at him in confusion. 

“I appreciate your company tonight. I hope I get to see you again soon.” 

Bruce could only nod as Thor let go of their wrist, and smiled back. Thor thought it was literally one of the prettiest things he had ever seen.

“I hope the next time it is a proper date, Bruce.” Thor smiled, almost in a daze, but then seemed to physically collect his thoughts. “If you would like that, of course.” Bruce scooted closer and smiled, hiding it behind their hand. 

“I would. I absolutely would like and appreciate that.” Their voice was almost muffled by their hand, still in front of their face in a new nervous tic they had developed, and Thor gently took their hand into his own. He wondered if Bruce was as nervous as he was right now, just sitting here parked in front of Bruce’s car with the rain still pelting down and the seatbelt alarm blaring in their ears. 

Before Thor could move any closer, Bruce took their hand back and went to open the car door, trying to hide the blush on their face. “Okay. Neat. See you around. Thank you again!” Bruce seemed to nod at themselves, hitting their head on the top of the car as they tried to get out and running inside in an attempt to not get their things wet - not that it would matter, but at least Bruce had an excuse to literally run from Thor’s car and straight inside before anyone could ask them anything.

“See you around, Bruce,” He responded, waving and driving away once he saw Bruce get inside safely. He could only hope Bruce would text him soon. 

 

~

 

12:09 am 

Sorry i was so akward earlier lfjdjfkj turns out tony was like staring out the window trying to see waht was going on. But !! thank you for asking me out . id really like that . if we were together, like that ,, i hope i didnt misread the date offer. 

 

12:11 am

It’s no problem. Friends can be like that. My date offer was definitely for us to be a couple, if you would accept. Would you prefer it, then, if I called you my partner in casual conversation? 

 

12:12 am

YEAH THAT WOULD BE GREAT 

 

12:12 am

Sorry about the caps OTL but yes. I d love to be your partner. Would you be my boyfriend? 

 

12:13 am

Boyfriend and partner are both fine with me, dear - may I call you that? 

 

12:14 am 

DEAR IS GOOD ! i hve to sleep now, like tony is literally dragging me , but ill hopefully see you tommorow?

 

12:15 am

It’s alright. Sleep well. :)

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! if you're interested in more Content, my twitter is @capricornlilith!   
> also its very ironic but very fitting this im posting this in june. happy pride!


End file.
